North Naples man pleads guilty to tax refund scheme using stolen IDs

NORTH NAPLES - A 34-year-old North Naples man pleaded guilty this week to federal charges after an investigation into a fraudulent tax refund scheme that netted him more than $300,000 last year and included dead people's stolen identities.

Frederick R. Green of Windsong Drive entered his plea Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers to false claims against the government, possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and theft of government money.

A sentencing date hasn't been set, but he faces up to five years in federal prison on the false claims charge and a maximum of 10 years each for the other charges, which involve one case, a $9,913 refund for a woman whose identity was stolen.

Records say that from Jan. 20, 2012, to July 12, 2012, Green filed $648,000 in returns and reaped $311,746 in refunds by using stolen identities that included dead people.

The plea, which dropped six counts, was negotiated by Naples defense attorney Landon Miller and Assistant U.S. Attorney Yolande Viacava after an investigation by IRS and Secret Service agents, and Collier and Lee county deputies.

According to court records:

Green was caught after he tried to enlist a friend to find people to join his scheme in December 2011. He told his friend he was paying others, including two cousins, $500 daily to cash refunds sent to bank debit cards in various names and he'd made about $80,000 in four months.

He said he planned on making $300,000 in 2012 from false returns and would buy a new identity and move to northern Florida to avoid prison time. He'd paid off his BMW, Volvo and a Dodge and all his girlfriend's credit cards.

The friend became an informant after contacting federal agents, who taped and videotaped Green teaching him how to file false returns. Green also let him copy instructions for falsely filing on Taxact.com and what numbers to enter for a $9,913 refund.

"Green went on to tell the (informant) that filing false taxes is the new game on the street as the difference from money made this way versus selling/cooking drugs is huge," the complaint said.

Agents determined more than 70 returns were filed from the same Internet Protocol address Green used. When they searched his home, they found 25 debit cards in other names, pages of personal identifying information and more than $10,000 in cash. They determined he'd received nine refunds at his apartment and four at his prior address. He admitted filing the refund in the woman's name and gave them five other names he'd gotten refunds under.

Records show Green, a former Immokalee man who has at least 15 aliases, was released from state prison in June 2011 after serving time for cocaine possession and three habitual driving offenses. He told agents he began the refund scheme in 2011.